


Live Your Life

by AraneaHighwind



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-21 22:26:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13153299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AraneaHighwind/pseuds/AraneaHighwind
Summary: Takes place after dawn breaks.  This short story follows the original canon of FFXV. Rebuilding has begun and Aranea is with Ignis.





	Live Your Life

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick ship fandom to get back into the swing of things. Lots of interruptions during the holidays but I managed to sort of finish it late after everyone went to bed.

Demons. Demons were everywhere, surrounding her position and taking out her men. This mission was a disaster and they were going to be lucky to escape with their lives.

High Commodore Aranea Highwind, or rather former High Commodore, had left the Imperial Forces and had accepted a mission with her men: people were still fleeing the former Empire and this final push had been to evacuate the remaining citizens of Gralea.

The Prince of Lucis had vanished off the face of the earth and there had been no sign of him in weeks. Nobody had seen any sign of his companions either. Aranea spared a thought for the young advisor who had traveled to Gralea with his friend and his liege. Part of her had wanted to come to Gralea just to see if she could find any sign of them. Perhaps they had failed?

A loud roar interrupted her thoughts as a behemoth bore down on her position. She leapt into action immediately, clapping down her visor and swinging her heavy lance behind her. She took to the air and crashed down on the beast, who had been left wondering where she had gone.

A piercing scream filled the air and she whipped around in time to see one of her men. Her eyes filled with horror as the scream cut off and the man fell in seeming slow motion, dead in an instant and his life cut from his body.

Aranea woke from her nightmare and into the present day Insomnia. She was in the renovated wing of the Citadel and she was sweating and her heart was racing. She sat straight up in bed, breathing hard. It took her a while to orient to her surroundings. It was night. The air in the room itself was cold, but her legs remained warm under the covers.

“Aranea?” A soft, low voice heavy with sleep called out next to her.

Ignis sat up and reached out tentatively. Though he couldn’t see her, he sensed the heat of her body. He could tell she was stressed. Some dark dream had woken her.

“Just a bad dream, Iggy. Everything is fine. “. Aranea sighed and tossed the covers off. She knew she would have a difficult time sleeping now. The cold floor felt good to her feet. The renovated Citadel was impeccably clean from the floors to the tall windows. Aranea gazed outside.

Footsteps padded quietly up behind her. Aranea felt a warm robe against her back. Ignis, ever thoughtful, had come to ensure she was warm enough.

“Happy Christmas, Aranea.” Ignis changed the subject. He knew about the dream. Ignis put his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. “I’ve something for you.”

“Oh?” Aranea turned around into his warm embrace. She smiled. “I got stuff for you too, Handsome. “

Ignis chuckled into her ear then drew her from the window back toward the bed. Aranea sat back on the bed, one leg in front of her and the other dangling off the side. Her expression was amused as she waited for Ignis to go to the closet and come back with a tray of homemade sweets and pastries. Aranea didn’t always enjoy sweets like this, but she always let Ignis bake for her. Besides, she was pretty certain there weren’t any better pastries or baked goods anywhere in the world. Ignis loved to cook an array of foods for her enjoyment.

On the tray were her favorite sweet and tart pastries. They were carefully arranged and were no doubt hand picked because they complimented each other perfectly. As she began selecting a few treats and placing them on a plate for herself, Ignis poured a fine bottle of champagne that was also selected for her with care.

“You’re always so good to me, Ignis...”. Aranea smiled when he returned and set her glass of champagne on the bedside table before opening the drawer to pull out a velvet black box. It was long and slender. She handed it over to Ignis. It had a single white ribbon artfully tying the box closed.

“What’s this?” Ignis smiled and opened the gift. His long, delicate fingers took their time with the ribbon, carefully untying it before opening the box. Aranea reached inside the box and drew out a silver chain bracelet. It was heavy set and had a silver plate with an inscription on it. She handed it to Ignis, who felt the delicate lettering with his fingertips.

“Vive vitam tuam.. “ Aranea read the engraving.

“Live your life.” Ignis said quietly.

“It’s what I told you in Tenebrae before you left for Gralea, remember?”

Ignis remembered it well. He remembered the conversation well. Aranea had confronted him while Noctis had gone in search of the representative of House Fleuret. She had asked him why he remained by Noctis, even after he had lost his sight in Altissia. It was for his sake that Aranea had commissioned Biggs and Wedge to take the three of them to Gralea by train. She had done it for Ignis, not for the Prince.

“You know why I continued down that path until the end. If I could have seen it to a different ending, i would have. “

“I know, Ignis. I’m stating this now- live your life now. You’re free to do whatever you want. We can continue to rebuild Insomnia or we can go somewhere. There’s nothing holding you to any path any more.”

Ignis was silent for a long moment before he put the bracelet on with Aranea’s help. “You’re right, Aranea. I want to stay here to rebuild. But I care most about being by your side.”

Aranea thought about a response, but she held it in check. It would take time and she didn’t want him to change completely for her. It was enough to hear him say he was ready to live his life with her. She ate one of her favorite tart treats from the tray and they clinked their glasses together as they enjoyed the champagne. They laid back down together under the heavy covers and held each other. Outside the snow fell silently as night marched onward into Christmas morning.


End file.
